John Michael Kohler Arts Center Inc

Programs: Exhibitions: the john michael kohler arts center, inc. (jmkac) staff annually originate 12-22 curated exhibitions that are part of 2-3 broad themes exploring relevant issues in contemporary art - emphasizing installation works, new genres, craft-related forms, and the work of self-taught artists. In 2014, the jmkac presented three broad themes. The open eye september 1, 2013 - march 4, 2014 this was a series of five exhibitions that aimed to stretch the viewer's ability to receive the messages conveyed through the images found in everyday surroundings. Visitors were presented with the proposition that the more one observes, the more one is able to discover, interpret, and, by extension, create. This must be the place september 14, 2013 - february 22, 2014 the twelve artists in this series activated the extraordinary qualities found in places they consider pivotal to their human existence. These places have the ability to counteract official histories and integrate personal relationships, familiar experiences, and lingering memories. Captivated by the narrative inherent in these places, they trace a broader story, as told in the intimate understanding of their own histories. The artists' locales, histories, ways of learning, and reasons for making may be widely varied, but they each search to 'find their place' and seek to articulate what it feels like when a place persists - when it clings to us, or we to it, and can't be shaken. Works in the exhibition included photography, sculpture, film, drawing, vernacular art environments and site-specific installations. Arts/industry: collaboration and revelation march 23 - august 31, 2014 this sweeping exhibition surveys almost 350 works of art created in the world-renowned arts/industry residency program. Founded by the john michael kohler arts center in 1974 to spark collaborations between artists and industrial artisans, arts/industry is coordinated by the arts center and supported and hosted by kohler co. The exhibition primarily features works of art that artists-in-residence have donated to the collections of the arts center and kohler co. For four decades, artists from all over the world have used the pottery, foundry, and enamel shop of america's leading plumbingware manufacturer to create bodies of work that would have been impossible to make in their studios. More than four hundred artists have spent two to six months on the production floor of kohler co. , alongside the men and women who cast and finish the company's products. The exchange that takes place between factory artisans and artists is central to the program's success.

education efforts deepen the impact of other programs through docent-led tours using visual thinking strategies (vts), a facilitated discussion approach that develops critical thinking, communication, and visual literacy skills; an arts-based preschool; classes; introductory videos for exhibitions; lectures; festivals; and programs for schools, universities, daycare centers, shelters, persons with disabilities, the elderly, persons with dementia and their caregivers, and more. In 2014, the arts center offered 116 classes, camps, and teacher institutes for 1,085 participants. In addition, the education department led 243 tour groups for over 5,991 visitors, primarily students. The arts-based preschool for 3- to 5-year-olds educated 49 students in the spring of 2014 and 46 in the fall.

performing arts offers a wide array of programming for all ages including summer theatre, footlights, family festivals, festive fridays, community cinema, senior honor recital, readers theatre for children and the midsummer festival of the arts concerts. These programs served over 13,200 patrons with 88 performances.